Epilogue
Lilith
One year later…
Dragon ran to Lilith before the crunch of tires on gravel could be heard in front of Brackenmere Manor.
Essie had finally arrived.
Lilith practically ran outside as Essie freed Amara from her car seat, wrapping them both in an all-encompassing hug. The
vanilla-scented lotion Essie favored curled around that embrace, bringing with it a lifetime of memories of friendship, laughter,
and more than a few bad ideas.
Lilith released them with a grin. “I cannot believe you flew all the way to England to see me.”
“I would fly to the moon to see you.” Essie set Amara down, and the little girl immediately bolted off with Dragon. “It’s
been over six months since you left Savannah. You know I can’t go that long without seeing you.”
After everything Lilith went through at Brackenmere Manor, she couldn’t bring herself to return to Savannah for good. She’d gone back long enough to pack the old house on East Waldburg Street and put it on the market, selling it for a sum that would have made even Mama happy.
And speaking of Mama, selling that house cut the last of Lilith’s ties to her. She’d walked around the empty building, feeling
its vastness and a ghost of the missing part of Mama she’d never been able to find.
With that, Lilith was able to say goodbye to Savannah.
Sometimes roots could be an anchor, and Lilith was finally free to soar once she cut herself free.
Her heart was in England, in the land of her blood, in the ferns framing Brackenmere Manor, and in the little black cat who
saved her as much as she’d saved him.
Essie glanced around. “Besides,” she added in a low-key whisper. “I have to meet Mr. Darcy in person.”
Lilith laughed and helped her friend with her suitcases. “He’ll be here when he gets off work. I’ll show you to your room.
You okay with staying in the manor?”
“Are there still dead people moving around in it?”
“Do you want there to be?”
Essie looked appalled. “You know I do not.”
“Good thing I almost got myself killed getting that taken care of for you then.” Lilith winked. “No, they left when my birthmark
did.” She lifted her arm to show where the smooth skin was now absent the crescent moon shape she’d had all her life.
“Then if you’re asking if I’ll stay in your manor in the English countryside… I dare say, I don’t mind if I do.” Essie employed
a terrible English accent as she spoke, one tinged with her Southern twang. “Is it really livable already?”
Lilith hauled the larger of the two suitcases while Essie collected Amara and tucked her neatly onto her hip.
“It’s been a lot of work, and even more money, but yes, it’s livable.” Lilith beamed proudly up at Brackenmere Manor. A new coat of limewash covered the grime and made the darkness of the new roof stand out in stark contrast.
“So, you own this place now?” Essie asked as Lilith unlocked the door. “How does that work again?”
“Time altering,” Lilith said in an exaggerated spooky voice with a wink for Amara.
The little girl giggled, revealing that dimple Lilith had always loved, the one that perfectly matched Essie’s.
“Sybil didn’t die by fire, so Robert Walsingham was never awarded the property. In fact, Asher was able to help me find the
original deed showing it was in my family and ensuring my ownership. He’s also been helping me with the rebuild on weekends.”
“So, when’s he moving in?” Essie lifted a brow.
Lilith shot her friend a look. “Maybe never.”
“Come on.” Essie groaned in exasperation. “You need your happily ever after.”
“Asher and I are more of a happy-for-now kind of couple.” Lilith put her hand on the door latch. “As for my happily ever after, I found it.” She pushed the door open, revealing the restored Great Hall.
“A woman must have money and a room of one’s own,” she quoted Virginia Woolf as Essie took in the newly upholstered furniture,
the massive hearth with those gorgeous Grecian statues, and the freshly polished floor.
Essie’s mouth dropped open. “Lilith…this is incredible.”
They went through each room, restored with a blend of old and new, a mix of Sybil and Jacinda, with some of Lilith.
The task had been considerable and costly. Funded through the investments that had made Lilith so wealthy, and through the
sale of her home in Savannah.
They went up to Jacinda’s bedchamber, where Essie and Amara would be staying, and found Aunt Jacqueline there, straightening a small basket of toiletries.
She and Asher were now Lilith’s neighbors, and she’d insisted on helping Lilith ready the manor for guests.
She spun around with a smile. “Is this Essie, whom I’ve heard so much about? And sweet Amara?”
As they all hugged like old friends, Lilith couldn’t help but smile at how Aunt Jacqueline’s health had improved. What had
been lost from her gifts had been made up for in the absence of the burden of her own legacy. There was a glow about her that
seemed to emanate from within, leaving her cheeks rosy, her eyes bright, and her body as mobile as someone three decades younger.
While she admitted to missing the hum of the earth, she still delighted in her garden.
“Skunk,” Amara declared with a squeal of delight.
“’Mara, don’t be so—” Essie gave a shriek. “It is a skunk!”
“Oh, that’s Lord Wimbleton the third,” Aunt Jacqueline said with pride as the little animal waddled after her, still her constant
companion despite no longer having the earth’s gifts. “Don’t worry—he is a gentleman who keeps his smells to himself.”
“The third?” Essie asked, dumbfounded. “There were two more?”
Lilith grinned. “Nope.”
“As long as he doesn’t spray,” Essie said dubiously before turning to the room with its elegant four-poster bed and lush velvet
covers and curtains. “But look at this place. Lil! You live in an honest-to-God manor. Call Eugene right now and tell him
I’m not leaving. He’s just going to have to move here with us.”
“There is enough room for you all to move in,” Lilith teased.
“Don’t tempt me.” Essie hugged Lilith. “Truly, this is amazing. You are amazing. I never thought I’d see you so happy.”
The broad smile on her face showed exactly how glad Essie was for Lilith. A woman’s greatest cheerleader was her best friend
and Essie was the best they came.
Lilith warmed with love and appreciation for her dearest friend, who had flown across the ocean—with a child no less—just to see her.
“Wait until you see the garden,” Lilith said. “Aunt Jacqueline has been helping me.”
“Want to see the garden, Amara?” Essie asked her daughter.
The little girl nodded her head vigorously, setting the beads in her hair clacking.
The garden truly was a sight to behold with vibrant blossoms of roses and bluebells, and, of course, Suffolk county’s flower,
the oxlip. Amid the lovely blooms were herbs of every kind for any spell that might be needed.
A blue butterfly floated around Amara while she sniffed one flower after the other, Dragon protectively at her heels. She
giggled and chased after the pretty insect, running along the path, hands stretching for those lovely blue wings as it continued
to remain just out of reach.
“Too far, Amara,” Essie called.
But Amara didn’t stop.
“I’ll get her.” Lilith jogged after the little girl, following her to the curtain of weeping birch trees.
A gut feeling made Lilith hesitate, waiting to see if Amara could cross the threshold into the honeysuckle clearing. The butterfly
danced through the air, disappearing between the sagging limbs of the tree, and Amara followed.
Lilith ducked into the clearing in time to see her goddaughter exclaim in delight and reach for the sweet blooms that filled
the air with their alluring fragrance.
The honeysuckle vine quivered and stretched to meet Amara’s hand.
The crook of Lilith’s arm tingled, where her birthmark used to be, a ghost of its presence that still lingered from time to
time. A reminder of who she was, of what she had done. And what the earth still needed her to know.
Several new honeysuckle blossoms unfurled, releasing their lovely fragrance. Amara laughed, the sound tinkling and magical as a halo of light seemed to glow around her.
All at once, Jacinda’s words came into Lilith’s head.
I give you the gift of choice.
Suddenly, her words made sense.
She hadn’t meant that Lilith could choose to keep their legacy going or not. She had given Lilith the opportunity to choose
who would carry on the legacy. And there was no child in this world Lilith loved more than her goddaughter.
Of course, Amara couldn’t relocate, but there would be time enough with their visits to England, and Lilith’s trips to Savannah.
In the past, Lilith would never dream of inviting danger into the life of her beloved goddaughter. But this was not the past.
And this gift was not binding.
Amara would grow into her own person, who knew who she was and what she wanted; a woman who would choose to accept the legacy
or not.
The days of killing women for their connection to the earth, for the power they wielded, were not gone. Not entirely.
But they were changing.
Their world was one of empowerment, of strong women with even stronger voices, even for those who try not to listen. Now was
a time for the daughters of the earth, needed more than ever to bolster the women of the world, to amplify those voices.
Now was a time to reclaim that power.
Now was a time of witches.